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Farmers, you take pains to get two teams, so that the boys can take hold
at the ploughing and in the corn. See to it that you also get the boys a
light wagon, so that they can go to a picnic or a bee without
discommoding you.
START YOUR BOYS OUT IN THIS WAY,
and they will not abuse their opportunities. Instead of going six miles
on Sunday to a lake or river, they will "turn out" of their own accord
and go to church with their heads up, self-reliant, perhaps just a
little bit proud. Why? Because when they sneak off to a river, it is
because they have nothing with which they are decently pleased for all
their hard toil. Make your home a pleasant place for your sons, even if
it be at great hazards. It will all come out right. Give the children
some comforts before you take big chances on a short-horn herd. Rig up a
bath-room, a swing, a sort of gymnasium. Buy games of recreation, such
as your taste approves. Buy above all things good books and plenty of
them. Remember some book in your own old childhood-home! What a
gigantic influence that book has exercised on your whole life! It does
not seem to you that your sons will pay so much attention to the books
in _your_ house, but they will.
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